1996 B2 Hyakutake
is now too faint for observation.
The light curve fits 5.4 + 5 log d + 7.5 log r quite well.
A report on the comet was published in the BAA Journal and as a special edition
of The Astronomer magazine.

1996 N1 Brewington
A new comet, found by Howard Brewington of Cloudcroft, New Mexico.
The observations fit a light curve of 8.5 + 5 log d + 13.5 log r, but
it seems to have outburst prior to perihelion as it should have been brighter at
discovery if this magnitude law applied.

1996 N2 = 133P/Elst-Pizzaro
An unusual cometary object in an orbit resembling that of a main belt
asteroid. It was too faint for visual observation at around 17th mag.
A thin tail meant that it must be classed as a comet, and this seems
to have been produced in a recent outburst. Observations in 1997
October showed it to be completely stellar to 21st mag, suggesting that
the tail might have been a collisional by-product of an asteroid impact.
Further observations linked the object to an asteroid seen at previous
apparitions and it was given both a cometary and asteroidal designation.

Another intersting object,
is asteroid 1996 PW. This is in a cometary orbit, which extends well
beyond that of Pluto, but it shows no sign of any cometary activity.

1996 P2 Russell-Watson
Ken Russell discovered this 13th mag comet on a UK Schmidt plate taken by
Fred Watson. It is now too faint for observation.
Several people have
noted the similarity of the orbit to that of P/Shoemaker 4 (1994 J3) and
it may be of short period.

1996 Q1 Tabur
Discovered by an Australian amateur Vello Tabur.
The orbit is very similar to
that of comet Liller 1988 A1, which reached perihelion on 1988 Mar 31. It
seems likely that the two comets separated at their last perihelion passage,
about 2900 years ago.

After reaching naked eye brightness in mid October, the comet suddenly faded
dramatically and is no longer visible.
This image by Denis
Buczynski shows how the comet appeared in a CCD camera before the fade.
It appeared to have a short
anti-tail when it passed through the nodal plane.

1996 R2 P/Lagerkvist
A 17th magnitude comet has been discovered on a schmidt plate by Claes
Ingvar Lagerkvist. It is a faint periodic comet and is unlikely to be
observed visually.

Calculations by Kazuo Kinoshita reveal that it passed extremely close
to Jupiter in 1987, down to 0.0057 A.U. This dramatically reduced the
perihelion distance from 5.5 A.U. down to 2.6 A.U.
When it came to close to the sun for the first time in 1996, it
brightened temporarily up to 16.5 mag in an unusual outburst, and it was
discovered. However, it quickly returned to the original extremely
faint state, fainter than 20 mag.

1996 S1 = 127P/Holt-Olmstead
Jim Scotti has recovered this periodic comet with the University of Arizona
Spacewatch Telescope on Kitt Peak. It is too faint for visual observation.

1996 S2 = 128P/Shoemaker-Holt 1
Jim Scotti has recovered this periodic comet with the University of Arizona
Spacewatch Telescope on Kitt Peak. It is too faint for visual observation.
Interestingly the comet seems to have split and two nuclei are visible.